Ellen Larsen is professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Toronto and currently a visiting fellow at the KLI. She received her University training in the Zoology Department at the University of Michigan (USA). She has had a longstanding interest in integrating development, genetics, and evolution. In addition to theoretical interests she has used fruit flies experimentally to address issues of canalization and morphogenesis. A current “designer organism” approach tests to what extent developmental constraints might be responsible for morphologies conserved in evolution.